


Juke Box Blues

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Geeks in Love, M/M, Meet-Cute, Spark!Stiles, Too Many Pop Culture References, Werewolves are still a thing, Writer Derek, diner au, waffle house au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2015-09-12
Packaged: 2018-04-20 08:08:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4780055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For weeks the guy has come in, put four or five bucks in the juke box, ate waffles and left without saying a word- even though he deliberately sits behind Derek every single time, that is, until one afternoon when absolutely everything changes</p><p>"Did you really just use my dollar to play 'Let It Go'?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Juke Box Blues

**Author's Note:**

> **UNBETA'D**
> 
> I've had this in mind for an eternity and finally actually wrote it *confetti* This is just a useless, pointless fluff fest to be entirely honest, I really have no point in it at all

The first time it happened was on a Tuesday

He came in, played Paramore and one song by Panic! At The Disco, had waffles, and left

The second time it was on a Thursday

He came in, played Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks, had waffles, and left

The third time it happened was on a Monday

He came in, played Bastille, two songs by Lorde, one by Ed Sheeran, had waffles, and left

It was a routine

After the third time atleast, it became a routine

The guy with bed-head styled brown hair and warm brown eyes with obscenely long limbs would come into Waffle House every day or every other day (except for weekends) eat waffles, complain to himself about needing to break this addiction because he always feels like sleeping after, and plays three or four dollars worth of songs on the juke box

Derek can't blame him

The diner is silent at this time of day without music and Derek wouldn't even be able to tolerate it if he didn't have wifi and headphones with him

Lately though he's been taking off his headphones just to listen to what the guy decided on each day

It was sort of interesting, there was a pattern but there wasn't

He listened to the same stuff all the time but he didn't

Everything about him was the same except that it wasn't

And Derek wasn't really sure what to do with that

They never talked

Even though the guy sat behind Derek- when literally almost every other seat in the place was open- every single day, they never said anything to eachother

Until one day, about a month into this, when Bedhead Guy did

"Crap... I can't believe how stupid I am ugh..."

Derek made a point of not paying attention to Bedhead Guy, he talked to himself frequently

And then he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around, because tapping someone was decidedly not talking to yourself

He decided that Bedhead Guy was even more stunningly attractive when they only had an inch of space between them than he was when he was several feet away just walking in or out of the diner

"Hey man, I really hate to do this but do you have change for a five? I completely forgot I didn't have any singles left and Kathy is in back so..."

Derek vaguely recognized Kathy to be the name of their waitress and gave a slow nod, taking his wallet out of his pocket and handing over five singles

As soon as their hands touched he felt a spark

Something other-worldly and delicious like you would read about in romance novels, not experience in real life

And it was gone before Derek even had a chance to appreciate it

Bedhead Guy played Let It Go, a few songs from First Aid Kit, and two from Imagine Dragons

As soon as the first song started Derek couldn't help himself

"Did you really just use my dollar to play 'Let It Go'?"

Bedhead Guy looked up abruptly from the machine and scoffed at him

"What? Are you too good for Frozen? Gotta be one of those hipsters who hates on a good thing because it's popular?"

His eyes narrowed and he exhaled slowly through his nose

"No, but you only hear it on TV and the radio eight times an hour, I just wondered if it was really necessary to actually buy it out of a juke box,"

"It's SO necessary," Bedhead Guy snorted back, setting the other tracks he wanted and walking back towards their adjoined booths, though curiously, he stood in front of Derek's rather than his own

"Um... can I?" he asked, gesturing to the open end of the booth

Derek stared at him in surprise but nodded his approval anyway, setting his laptop aside breifly as Bedhead Guy swooped into the booth

"So, I see you here all the time but you never talk, what's with that? I'm Stiles, by the way,"

Bedhead Guy- Stiles- offered Derek his hand and the other couldn't help but stare for a moment, entirely caught off guard by this, but he snapped back to reality soon enough and shook his hand lightly, giving a small smile

"Derek, and I... why don't you ever talk?"

Stiles seemed a little bewildered by this and gave a bright grin in response

"Have I really never said anything? That's... weird, ok, sorry for the last month, I meant to introduce myself probably around week three,"

"It's fine,"

Stiles started to fidget slightly and licked his lips, forcing out another smile

"So ... am I imagining things or do you really have a Walking Dead wallet?"

"I really have a Walking Dead wallet," Derek confirmed

Stiles beamed at him and they spent the next hour talking about The Walking Dead and zombies in general

Derek feels pretty certain it could have continued well beyond an hour but the waffles make it clear that Stiles won't be awake much longer and Derek gently suggests they meet again tommorrow

He asks Stiles before he leaves if he's alright to drive and Stiles replies that he walked here, he lives around the corner, it's fine

It's not fine

Derek is somehow more worried about Stiles walking than he is about him driving

The next day Stiles comes in, plays Florence + The Machine and three songs from Taylor Swift, and talks to Derek for an hour about his Harley Quinn shirt (and Batman in general) before he starts falling asleep again and leaves

The day after that Stiles comes in, plays Sam Smith and two songs from Lana Del Ray, and talks to Derek for an hour about "the greats" of fantasy literature (mostly, it's comparing everything else to Harry Potter) before he starts falling asleep again and leaves

The day after that Stiles comes in, plays Maroon 5 and one song from Kodaline, and talks to Derek for an hour about the horror genre in every aspect he can think of before he starts falling asleep again and leaves

It's good

It's a routine

It's something Derek looks forward to

They do it religiously, in fact, except for the weekends when neither of them are there, and it's such a nice thing to have

And then one day Stiles doesn't show up and Derek waits an extra two hours

He hadn't realized just how attached he had become in all this time

The next day Stiles comes in, plays Hozier, Amber Run, and Christina Perri, and apologizes to Derek for being gone the day before

"I'm a private detective and I had to work overtime on a case, I mean I call it overtime but it's just taking my lunch off you know? Most people don't contact me in the afternoons through the week,"

Derek couldn't help asking

"Why do you always get waffles if you know you're going to fall asleep? Especially if you're working..."

Stiles smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck and laughing

"It's BECAUSE they make me fall asleep, dude, I have the worst sleep pattern in history, I'm always so exhausted by like.. four or five o'clock you know? And that's when I start getting calls from clients and when the perps get most active and blah blah blah, so worst time ever to fall asleep but I can't make myself tired before then-"

"Unless you eat waffles,"

"Bingo! So I come in here at two, out by three, stumble home and power nap or sometimes a little more than power nap and by four o'clock I'm recharged, it's genius, yesterday I was a wreck,"

"So the basic sentiment here is that you're a preschooler?" Derek teased

"Oh OUCH, you wound me Derek! And here I was about to give you AAAALLL my contact information too so we could be dating _o-fficial-ly_ ," he clicked his tongue and shook his head like it was the biggest shame in the world

"We're dating?" Derek asked in surprise

"Unofficially, but yes, I mean... if you want to? We've kinda been having coffee-and-waffles dates for the last three weeks man," he grinned

"Do you call all your dates 'man'?"

"No, sometimes I call them 'lady'," he grinned, handing Derek a business card with his email address and phone number on the front, and his cell number scribbled on the back

"We're dating," Derek says it slowly, like he's testing out the taste of it

"Is that... is that bad? Oh.. God are you straight? Or like.. aro or..-"

"N-No, no no," Derek said urgently, putting a hand out to stop Stiles from going any further

"I um... I'm bi, I just.. didn't really realize it .... but you're right, we are dating,"

"Didn't realize you're bi or did-"

"Didn't realize we were dating, but we are, sort of, clearly,"

Stiles looked sincerely conflicted between wanting to burst into laughter and wanting to lean over and kiss Derek

He settled for smiling and squirming

"So ah... you know my embarrassing reason for coming here, what's your's big guy? All alone on your laptop and drinking coffee for an hour a day? Is that some kind of health regimen?"

Derek gave his head a quick shake and he sighed, moving his coffee out of the way as he pulled out his own business card and a pen, starting to write his contact information on the back of the card

"I'm um.. not the best with people, and I'm a writer so I'm at home most of the day working, it can get.... I can get... obsessive... and um... I've had times where I maybe stay inside too much, so my sister threatened me with an online dating app if I didn't go out for atleast an hour a day to a public place..."

"And you decided on a completely empty Waffle House in the middle of the day so the amount of human interaction you'd have to tolerate would be at the absolute lowest possible? Wow, that's ... that is seriously close to breaking the rules you know,"

"It's a public place," Derek insisted

"Isn't bringing your laptop along ALSO against the rules? 'Cause it seems like it should be,"

"She said I couldn't bring a book, she said nothing about a computer,"

"Weeeeeeell I see who the lawyer should have been in your family, those are like... some 'How To Get Away With Murder' level loopholes you know,"

"Hardly and I'd be scared to death to work for or with anyone in that show anyway, God knows I'd just end up framed for something,"

Stiles snickered and gave him a slight shrug

"Well now you can go home and tell her that you officially have a boyfreind so that should help with the anti-socialization issue,"

He returned a small smile and nodded, taking another sip of his coffee

"Yeah, it should," he agreed

Stiles cleared his throat, shyly accepting the card Derek was handing him and putting it in his wallet

"SO... we cannot, in fact, have Waffle House dates for eternity, I propose something else, something realer, a date date, wherein I will not fall asleep an hour into it and you will not hide behind your laptop every single time you get flustered,"

Derek felt a blush spread all the way through his face and down his neck and tried not to, indeed, move the laptop closer

"The Walking Dead premieres Sunday... do you want to come over and watch it? I'll um.. I'll cook, so it can be an official date,"

Stiles grinned, nodding in approval and leaning closer

"That works for me, Kira doesn't even get to see it until it replays later anyway 'cause Sunday is- stupidly- her date night with Scott, so I can totally use you as my distraction so I don't text her about it,"

"Thanks?" Derek snorted

"You're so welcome, being my distraction is truly a privilege, now about this date, will we be baking cookies? Because Kira bakes cookies on premiere nights and I'm seriously losing out by not getting her chocolate chip delights on Walking Dead nights,"

"We can bake cookies if you want to come over early, I'm not baking at eleven o'clock,"

"You watch Talking Dead too huh?"

"It's sort of a must,"

"Oh my God... don't tell Scott but you're my new favorite person,"

He knew it was a joke but Derek couldn't stop himself from blushing at the concept of being anyone's favorite anything

It was sort of... amazing... actually....

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me, I still can't understand how someone as nerdy as you has a best freind who isn't equally nerdy,"

"Yeah well Scott is one of those people who liked comic books when we were kids and then evolved into liking girls, never to return, as if they're mutually exclusive you know? But now he's dating Kira so we're slowly forcing him back into it,"

"Sounds very good, very healthy,"

"Oh the best! What about you? Got any geeky packmates?"

Derek paused, mouth hanging open slightly and blinking in surprise

"What? You didn't smell the Eau De Wolf that I practically bathe in?"

"I just.... I wasn't sure if you were in the loop or not," he confessed shyly

"I'm a spark, I sorta have to be, but um... yeah, I've been part of this since before I even knew I was anything but human, like... five years now I think,"

Derek gave a slow nod and wrung his hands a little under the table

"Derek? You ok?" Stiles asked worriedly, leaning closer and holding his hand out and open on the table

The werewolf stared at it for a breif moment in confusion before hesitantly setting his own hands on the table, letting Stiles take them in his own

It's nice

It's... better than nice

It's soft and tender and warm and sweet

It's.... God... it's so wrong that Derek feels so amazing just from Stiles holding his hand

But he does

He just wants to pull Stiles into a hug, lay against him and close his eyes and tune out the rest of the world

He just wants ... he wants everything, he wants anything that Stiles is willing to give him, just as long as Stiles doesn't let go...

And he thinks maybe it makes him seem a little bit wrong

He thinks that he's gotten far too attached far too quickly

But he knows this about himself, that he has a tendency to fall so hard and so fast and so desperately in devotion with someone

And he's so reluctant to tell himself that he's wrong for this, that Stiles is anything but good

He's so hesitant to admit that he's fallen as deeply as he has

But he knows, deep down, that Stiles.... Stiles is ok, he can trust him, he can allow himself to fall like this.... maybe....

And he wonders distantly if this is what love feels like

"I'm fine," he lies expertly

Stiles narrows his eyes, however, as if he knows for a fact that Derek is lying, and gives his hands a little squeeze, but says nothing

And somehow that conveys more than all the words Derek could ever think of

He wonders breifly how they've become so close with such little time

"I um... don't have a pack, it's just my sisters and I," he finally admitted, closing his eyes and inhaling as if bracing for impact

He wasn't sure what kind of impact he was expecting, but his eyes snapped open in surprise when all that happened was Stiles squeezing his hands again

"You don't have to talk about it, we'll make it another day, maybe when we go see Captain America 3? You could tell me over pizza and the likely sobbing that will occur," he offered with a teasing but gentle smile

Derek smiled back, broken and a little weak, and nodded in agreement

"And anyway, you know that as soon as my pack meets you- wich will be VERY soon I hope- they're going to practically adopt you anyway right?"

Derek didn't know

He wanted to pretend he did

And although he was probably just teasing, everything about the way Stiles said it was so achingly sincere

And instead of biting back an equally teasing remark, Derek could only feel a chill rush through every inch of his skin and force goosebumps to rise at the thought

The thought that he would have a pack again, besides himself and his sisters

The thought that he would have Stiles for any actual length of time instead of just someone he talked nerdy to during his hour of forced socialization

The thought that he would BELONG

It was almost too much

"Just do me a favor Stiles,"

"Yeah, sure, anything,"

"From now on, let me drive you home from here before you sleepwalk into oncoming traffic or something,"

The spark lit up and started to laugh, nodding enthusiastically at the proposition

"Deal," he promised, leaning in and moving one hand out of Derek's to cup the back of his neck, pulling him in closer and closing his eyes

"Such a deal," he breathed, brushing his lips against Derek's and deepening the kiss until neither of them could breathe right anymore

The last time it happened was a few months later

Derek was there first, as always, and was playing Paramore and "Let It Go"

Stiles had waffles and Derek had coffee

They talked about Once Upon A Time for an hour before Stiles started falling asleep again

So Derek took him out to his car and drove him home

It wasn't the last time because they never went back

It was the last time because there was no longer any reason for them to meet up separately when they were living together

Still, however, it became a yearly tradition

On their anniversary Derek leaves ten minutes early to get to the diner and orders coffee

Stiles joins him not long after, starts the music, orders waffles, and the routine repeats


End file.
